Richie’s Ramen
Ramen seems to be the dish of the moment, and is getting a lot of ink spilled over its joys. And why not? It’s the perfect “this economy sucks” dish, featuring a blend of the unfamiliar and comforting, handmade ingredients. It just begs for every chef to put his or her personal spin on it, and “improve” on the original.
Of course, I’m a ramen neophyte, but that won’t stop me from trying a great bowl of food put in front of me. So when Richie “Linecook” Nakano included me in an ad-hoc tasting panel for his ramen recipe development plan, I jumped at the chance. Richie is currently a sous chef at NOPA, but is working on striking out on his own, and opening a ramen joint. This was his second test batch. (Warning – serious food porn lies ahead)
The base of the ramen is of course the stock. In this case, it’s made with bonito and pork bones. Finding the balance between these two extremes is the act of perfecting the recipe.
If the dotted line is the goal, the first notch in the line represents he first, uber-porky broth. This go round it was much, much closer to the goal line.
Then there are the noodles, which were made fresh.
And the rest of the toppings – braised greens, crispy pork, fried chicken mcnuggets, and sous vide eggs and pork shoulder.
Finally, with all of the ingredients ready, the final soup is assembled.
This is of course followed by an intense round of picturing taking and twittering.
And how was it? The final soup is something pretty special. The broth is rich, with both the fish and pork coming through. Myriad of toppings manages to come together into a fairly cohesive whole, with each maintaing their own texture. Especially the fried chicken. I found the soft cooked egg to be particularly amazing.
So, when will Richie’s Ramen be available on the open market? He’s looking for a space now (Mission! Mission!) and will continue to refine the details of his recipe. For now, you can still find him organizing tickets and twittering behind the counter at NOPA. But I’d imagine real soon, this will be his full time gig.
February 1st, 2010 at 11:51 am
The stock looks fantastic. Looking forward to a bowl when you open up your ramen shop.
February 1st, 2010 at 12:41 pm
That’s got “last meal before I die” written all over it.
February 1st, 2010 at 12:50 pm
The stock looks fantastic and the egg is a nice touch. Looking forward to a bowl when Richie opens up his ramen shop.
February 1st, 2010 at 1:45 pm
Can’t wait to dive into a bowl when Richie opens up shop!
February 1st, 2010 at 5:56 pm
This looks outstanding! What are the greens? How did you prepare the pork? I would love to eat this.
Have you thought of writing a cookbook?
February 2nd, 2010 at 7:59 am
Great post, keep writing.
I just had Ippudo, the King of Ramen in New York City.
The broth must be on key reaching Unami, the marriage of both savory and sweet tones.
Rayfil
CEO Campusfork Inc.
February 2nd, 2010 at 10:03 am
Beautiful tattoos; it appears that ramen isn’t the only thing that much ink is being spilled on. Much of the art is botanically correct too.
February 2nd, 2010 at 10:36 am
I love the tattoos, too. When I get home, I may want to know who his artist is — I want fig tattoos!
February 2nd, 2010 at 9:22 pm
wow, look at that, I’m already drooling, great color, looks delicious
February 3rd, 2010 at 6:05 am
[...] Jess also has far better pictures of ramen night than I do. View them here. [...]
February 3rd, 2010 at 9:38 am
Ramen is the food of the gods. This looks amazing.
February 3rd, 2010 at 10:24 am
It does indeed look great, and it’s too bad that SF doesn’t have more going on for ramen. NYC has several places, but not so many good ones.
One thing I couldn’t help but notice in your excellent photos – I’ve always seen ramen chefs pour the broth into the bowl first, before anything else is added. The noodles, then toppings. Never the other way around, as was done here. Not that I could explain why it should be one way or the other, but perhaps Richie has a reason for doing it his way. It would be interesting to hear what it is…
February 3rd, 2010 at 12:36 pm
Just jumped over from “Spume” and, as Wolfgang said, great photos, Jesse.
Braised (vs. steamed) greens is an interesting spin. Any idea what Richie used as his braising liquid?
February 4th, 2010 at 12:10 am
Richie should open up in the Zaytoon space on Valencia that’s been sitting almost done but empty for a good part of a year.
February 4th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
[...] bones. Beer & Nosh blogger Jesse Friedman was on hand for a recent Hapa tasting and filed some amazing pics ? Nakano’s test bowls were packed with braised greens, crispy pork, fried chicken nuggets, [...]
February 23rd, 2010 at 10:14 am
I’ll have to be sold on braised greens and “sous vede” egg, but if the broth and noodles are good you could put Cap’n Crunch in the bowl and I’d probably approve(despite the fact that I’m typically a strictly cah shu with shio kind of guy). I must admit that I agree with brooklynguy in the general disappointment regarding SF’s ramen scene. I wonder if the Japanese are retaliating for their treatment by Americans during WWII by serving us overpriced crap that essentially comes out of a box. Now that the 80′s are over and everybody pretty much knows what sushi is, maybe it’s time to get a little deeper into the nuances of Japanese cuisine, including educating Americans that ramen isn’t necessarily a $.25 meal for starving college kids. At any rate, this hopefully is the necessary catalyst to usher in a new wave of ramen slurping in SF.
“Gambatte kudasai” Ritchie San!